Sewing machine



Patented Dec. 23, 1947 UN lT ED S TATE S 'T F'F I CE 'SEWING Clyde LjKnott, Beverly, Mass.,'assignorto United Shoe'Majchinery Corporation, FlemingtomN. J a corporation of New Jersey Application tune-2's, 1946,}.seria1' No} 680,027

2 Claims. (01. 'iiza tz) This invention relates primarily to binding strip guides' for sewing machines, particularly --=of-that typeemplo-yed for uniting the upper, sole wanda sole edge binding, strip in a platform type iShOBtbLlt, in certain of its aspects, the invention :is applicable to other sewing operations andto strip guides of more general *usage. In its illus- "trated form, :the strip guide of the present invention is of the general type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,398,475, granted April 16, 1946, upon application of Karl A. Eltritter.

The-guide disclosed in that patent is intended tosdirect a binding strip to the sewing point of a curved hook needle sewing machine with the majorportion of the strip disposed in douit bled-over relation within the curvature of the "needle as it approaches the sewing point. In

this way, the binding strip is delivered to the -:sewing point in as compact a condition as possible, with additionaladvantages more fully de- "scribed'in the Stritter patent. The usefulness of the Stritter guide, however, is limited to binding strips of a certain maximum widthwhich may .be accommodated by the guide. Binding strips of greater width, thus, cannot successfully be sewed withthat guide,

An object of the present invention is to'pro- .vi'de.'a:binding,strip guide for a shoe sewing ma- 'In the illustrated embodiment of l the invention,

a shoe sewing machine is employed, constructed -andi-arrangedto connect an upper, a platform sole and a relatively thin binding strip of a width and pliability to enable easy wrapping about the edge of the sole, in which the strip is directed toward the point of operation of the stitch forming devices through a guide having a fiat confining portion for one edge of the binding strip and a circular curling portion for the other edge of the binding strip to cause it to be pressed by its resistance to curling into the edge confining portion of the guide so that the edge withinrthe.confining portion will be maintained uniformly in proper alined relation to the ew n i i "inY-themachine. Preferably, the

guide is formed with aside Qpeningto enable through the guidefin preparing the machine for operation.

otner reatures;br the invention consist 'in certain constructions, combination "and arrange- M m'e'ntsloi partshereinaiter described and claimed zas w ill readily be apparent in -connection with 4 l the" accompanying drawings, in which iligig is a new in front elevation of the parts surrounding the qperatmg point'ina sewing malemme embodying the present invention, indicating inse'c'ition anornonnra platform shoe;

Z'Fig. the View in sideielevationjof the same parts,{.lookingQfrom the right of the machine pres'nt invention is capable of successful'u'se.

illustrated-in Fig. ,1, with portions of the strip shown sectionally at two locations along its -Fig. 3 is adetail perspective view; partly broken away, {finrall enlarged scale, illustrating the Operation :of the guide in curling the bindingstrip -as it-is directe to the sewing .fp'o'iht; and

, :Figfi is a 'stilliurther jdetail view,',on a reduced scale, illustrating in perspective one form of binding ,strip' with which the guide of the "Themac'hine illustrated in the drawings is intended to operatefin securing together a shoe ihberifi, alplatform solef'8,and a wrapping or .edge'binding strip Ill while the shoe parts are unsupported by .aIlast. Asfis common with the typeersnoe employing ajplatform' sole,the binding :strip I 0 is ewed along one edge to the marginal portionsflof the upper and soleand thereafter'fthebinding stripis'wrapp'ed or lasted about the edges of the upper andisole'and carried-over the bottom surface of the's'oletoconceal the edges of the {parts and 'to present a finished ornamental appearance. The usual procedure is to complete "thesh'oe by attaching an outsole (not shown) acovering thejedgepf the binding strip which is carried along thebottom surface of the plat- "form sole.

'In order ,to obtainuniformly satisfactory results, it is essential to direct the binding 'strip EOL-accurately' Withpne of its edges in continuous ;-regi'sterwith the edges of the upper and platform sole. {The binding strip, beingcomposed of relatively thin pliable material, does not readily sub- .iect 1 itself to being guided uniformly merely by confining the extreme edges of the strip. The

problem of guidin the strip is complicated further by the fact that, in certain types of platform shoe, the heel of the shoe is covered by the strip together with the platform sole to form a unitary construction, the strip being cut with a variable width to accommodate the increased thickness of the heel. Such a strip is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which a portion for covering the heel of the shoe is indicated at l2 as being much wider than the ends of the strip. Due to inherent difiiculties met in sewing the unlasted upper of a shoe to a platform sole with their edges in register, the task of simultaneously manipulating the binding strip by hand presents a serious problem in the manufacture of this type of shoe.

The binding strip guide, illustrated in the drawings as embodyin the present invention, is applied to a straight eye needle shoe sewing machine similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,864,510, granted June 21, 1932, on an application of Bernard T. Leveque, having work clamping and feeding rolls l4 and It together with other stitch forming devices, and consists of a flat sheet metal strap l8 the upper end of which is attached to a bracket member 28 in the machine and the lower end of which is formed in a novel manner to receive the binding strip Ill. The needle of the machine is indicated at 22 and acts together with other stitch forming devices to insert stitches connecting the parts in the desired manner. The lower binding strip receiving end of the guide strap I8 is bent into a right angle and reversed upon itself to provide a portio 23 of the guide located along the seam line in advance of the point of operation of the needle for confining the edge of the binding strip in flattened condition as it is led toward the sewing point of the machine. From th reversed flat edge confining portion 24 of the guide, the strap continues at right angles to the mounting arm portion, indicated at 26, of the guide. From the continued reversed portion of the strap, it merges into a circular upwardly curving portion 28 for curling the other edge of the binding strip back toward itself. The circular edge curling portion of the guide again bends downwardly with uniform curvature and terminates just short of the continued reversed portion of the strap to provide an opening through which the binding strip may be received by moving the strip laterally, thus avoiding the necessity of threading the strip endwise through the guide. To apply the binding strip to the guide, one edge of the strip is pressed through the opening between the mounting arm 26 and the circular curling portion 28 into the curling portion, winding the strip upon itself as it enters the curling portion until the complete width of the strip enters the guide. The outer edge of the strip then is carried into the edge confining portion.

As the binding strip moves through the guide, frictional force is applied to the strip within the circular portion I8 due to the tendency of the strip to uncurl within the circular portion, and the resistance to the curling action on the strip forces the strip widthwise into the flat edge confining portion 24 of the guide to the limit admitted by the flat portion. Since the uncurling action of the strip exerts a force which is commensurate with the stiffness of the strip, excessive widthwise pressure on the edge of the strip within the fiat portion 24 is avoided. Furthermore, the curling portion 28 of the guide, being circular in form, enables the use of a binding strip of unlimited uniform width or of variable width since the strip may be curled back upon itself with one or more convolutions, if necessary, as indicated by the dot-dash lines of Fig. 2. Thus, when a binding strip of variable width, illustrated in Fig. 4, is employed, the greater width portion E2 of the strip may be curled back upon itself to the dot-dash position as the strip passes through the guide and while sewing the ends of the strip only a slight amount of curling action takes place. The result is that the visibility of the work is not impaired and full control of the free edge of the strip is retained at all times regardless of the strip width. The guide automatically presses one edge of the strip into alinement with the sewing point of the machine and frees the operator for full attentio to the task of holding the upper and platform sole accurately with their edges in register.

To assist further in keeping the edges of the parts being sewed in proper register, a simple form of edge gage is provided having a roll 30 rotatable upon a stud 32 formed integrally with a bracket 35. The bracket 34 is mounted upon a fixed part of the machine frame in such position that the guide roll is disposed directly behind the needle 22 opposite its point of operation.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A sewing machine for uniting the edges of an upper. a platform sole and a relatively thin binding strip of a width and pliability to enable easy wrapping about the edge of the sole, having stitch forming devices including a needle, and work clamping and feeding means, in combination with a guide for directing one edge of the binding strip into the seam inserted by the stitch forming devices, comprising a flat edge confining portion and a circular edge curling portion disposed to cause the strip to be pressed by its resistance to the curling action of the guide into the edge confining portion of the guide to the limit admitted by said confining portion, and formed with a side opening to enable reception of the full width of the strip into the edge curling portion before entry of the strip into the confining portion.

2. A sewing machine for uniting the edges of an upper, a platform sole, and a relatively thin binding strip of a width and pliability to enable easy wrapping about the edge of the sole, having stitch forming devices including a needle, and work clamping and feeding means, in combination with a guide for directing one edge of the binding strip into the seam inserted by the stitch forming devices, comprising a fiat metal strap formed at one end with a mounting arm connected to an edge confining portion for the binding strip to limit lateral movement of one edge of the strip, and a circular portion at the other end of the strap for causing the binding strip to be pressed by its resistance to curling into the edge confinin portion of the guide to the limit admitted by said confining portion.

CLYDE L. KNOTT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,398,475 Stritter Apr. 16, 1946 

